TV performers ratify Hollywood labor deal

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The smaller of Hollywood's two
performers unions ratified a new prime-time TV contract on
Tuesday, undermining a last-ditch bid by the larger, more
militant Screen Actors Guild to secure a richer deal.

The labor pact with major studios covering 70,000 members
of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists won
final approval despite an unusual all-out campaign by SAG
urging some 40,000 actors who belong to both unions to vote
down the AFTRA accord.

"A majority of members ultimately focused on what mattered
-- the obvious merits of a labor agreement that contains
substantial gains for every category of performer in both
traditional and new media," AFTRA President Roberta Reardon
said in a statement.

More than 62 percent of AFTRA members casting ballots voted
in favor of the new contract, the union said. The number of
ballots returned and actual vote totals were not disclosed.

While AFTRA's margin of victory was substantially less than
the 90 percent range most Hollywood labor pacts attain for
ratification, it was not immediately clear how much if any real
additional clout SAG would gain in pressing its demands.

SAG leaders had said a "no" vote on AFTRA would give them
leverage to negotiate a more favorable settlement with studios
for all actors under the larger deal covering 120,000 SAG
members in both prime-time television and movies.

AFTRA countered that it secured the best terms possible
without a strike, including higher basic wages and new reuse
fees, or "residuals," for online content, and that defeat of
its deal would lead to renewed Hollywood labor unrest.

SAG's contract talks stalemated last week over some of the
same issues that led to a 14-week screenwriters strike months
ago, such as disagreements over how union talent should be paid
for work created for the Internet.
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